


First Name Basis

by deepcreek



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Butt Dialing, Character Study, Cuddling & Snuggling, Early in Canon, Established Relationship, F/F, Intimacy, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Names, Recovery, everyone on the station knows about Julian Bashir's foot fetish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 09:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15360945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepcreek/pseuds/deepcreek
Summary: Nerys trips. Jadzia catches her.





	First Name Basis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cornflakes_writes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornflakes_writes/gifts).



> This piece deals with Kira Nerys' recovery from trauma. Specifics are in the endnote.
> 
> This is a gift for Cornflakes_writes for the sapphicstartrek fan exchange.

The first ten to twelve hours off shift are always sleeping, prayer, and eating for Nerys. Odo and Jadzia know not to bother her then, and Sisko learned in the first few weeks of duty after disturbing her mid-mourning with a paperwork question. After years in the Dahkur Hills, Terok Nor had been almost instant sensory overload, and this recalibration is still the next best thing to escaping in a shuttle and spending the rest of her life in a monastery in the mountains.

So Nerys jumps about a foot when the door to her quarters slides open at 09.25 off shift. Or she would jump, but she’s too busy clutching her foot and groaning.

Jadzia rushes into the room almost instantly, kneeling at her side with an air of deep concern. (If she had the honor of being her girlfriend’s official biographer, Nerys would certainly title the piece “Jadzia rushes in.”)

“What is it? What happened?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.  I was doing something stupid and I think I hurt myself. I was really hoping no one would find out.”

Jadzia’s transition to exobiologist mode is rather sudden. There is some palpating (“Yes, it does hurt there! Prophets!”) and she looks up at Kira with a frown.

“Nothing’s broken, but you’ve sprained your ankle rather badly. You won’t be wearing those heeled boots tomorrow.” She gestures to Nerys’ favorite part of her uniform, somewhat haphazardly tossed to the side of the still-lit duranja.

Nerys sighs. “I suppose you’re going to ask how I did this to myself.”

“If you’re that embarrassed about it then yeah, of course I am!”

“But of course,” she adds, looking at Kira’s strained expression, “I would never share something you didn’t want me to share. And it’s totally up to you.”

“It’s okay, you know I trust you. Can we sit down first?”

Jadzia pecks her on the cheek and hoists her bridal-style, coaxing a laugh from Kira. “I don’t see how you’re so strong when you spend all your free time getting holosuite massages!”

“Well, if you kept your weight on like Julian keeps telling you to, you’d be harder to lift!”

Nerys lets Jadzia sit her on the loveseat and prop her swelling foot up. She watches the oldest person she knows replicate an ice pack and a pain suppressant for her and is a little too overcome to speak.

Finally Jadzia settles in beside her, wrapping a lanky arm around her shoulder to give her a squeeze.

“Want to tell me what happened?”

Nerys leans into the embrace. “You know how I’ve been talking with you and the Vedek about letting myself be more at home here?”

“Mmhmm.” Jadzia’s hand creeps up under Kira’s hairline, coaxing a little bit of tension out of her.

“Well, I tried the thing where I make my space a little disorderly, and then I was thinking about my feet.”

Jadzia buries her head in Kira’s neck, but it doesn’t cover her snort.

“This isn’t going to be like that conversation I had with Julian, is it?”

She can feel the movement of the tendons as Kira shakes her head.

“You would already know if I felt that strongly about toes, you idiot.” She traces a pattern on the back of Jadzia’s hand, absent-mindedly re-centering herself.

She’s silent for a little while, grounding herself on Jadzia’s skin, until her lover gives her that checking-in look that she knows so well. Nerys nods and takes a breath.

“I think Lupaza gave me my first shoes that fit right. She was training me to scout, and she said I needed to be able to run faster.”

She closes her eyes, remembering the feel of the soft leather against her cracked heels, and smiles. "Lupaza wasn't as good a liar as she thought she was."

“The boots are part of feeling safe.”

Nerys grumbles assent into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “The Cardassians used to set traps in the woods like we were feral riding hounds. I realized today I haven’t gone barefoot when I don’t have to for at least fifteen years.”

“So you decided not to look out for traps today.” Jadzia leans over to check the swelling ankle. It must not look awesome, because she makes a sympathetic little ‘tsk’ing noise.

Nerys glares at her, but she doesn’t really mean it. “Well, I should have been! As soon as I stood up to extinguish my prayer lamp, I tripped right over my uniform jacket.”

“Oh, so that’s what set off your communicator!”

She must look as confused as she feels, because Jadzia laughs a little and strokes her hair, pulling her closer.

“You didn’t think I’d interrupt your reflection time for no reason, did you? Your emergency protocol went off.”

Nerys groans. “I’m glad I changed my emergency contact. Odo would have given me such a lecture about this.”

“Isn’t he the one who fried two communicators by going gelatinous on them?”

“Don’t remind me. I was in the middle of a long, hot shower when the alert sounded for the second one.”

“Speaking of showers…” Jadzia gives her a very unsubtle coy look. “Want to take one together? You can brace against me. You know, for medical reasons.”

Nerys shakes her head, but she’s grinning now, which was probably what Jadzia was after. “I’m still a little worn out. How about we just hang out here for a while?”

Jadzia nods and starts doing line-of-sight checks, and Nerys sits back and relaxes. It’s nice to date someone with commando training who understands how to help her feel safe.

“Nerys?”

“Hm?”

“Should the duranja stay lit, or do you want to extinguish it?”

“Knowing my luck today? I should probably at least turn the flame down.”

__

Kira finishes her closing prayers with a pillow under her left foot and an affectionate girlfriend who is heroically resisting the urge to hover.

“And Dad, I don’t know if there are any Trill where you are, but I think the past hosts of Dax should be very proud of this woman named Jadzia who is standing behind me. I don’t know the right formula for asking the Prophets to watch over an alien, but I would like that very much.”

She kneels for a moment longer, then raises her hands to adjust the flow of oil.

__

Later Kira is drifting off when Jadzia’s voice comes through the darkness.

“I heard my name in your prayers today.”

“Mhm.”

“Why today?”

She blinks sleepily at the tall woman wrapped around her. “I like it when you call me Nerys.”

Her girlfriend laughs, and, for a moment, everything feels right.

**Author's Note:**

> To be more specific about trauma: Kira Nerys deals with sensory overload, trust issues, issues around food, and discomfort with her environment. There are references to her processing these effects of trauma with a religious counselor and with her girlfriend as well as on her own time.


End file.
